"Food" Environmental Science

Jean Fedna

Imagine going into a supermarket and you are shopping for food. You go into the aisle and everything is labeled: chips, milk, orange juice, meat, soda, spaghetti. All of these items just have their objective names as their labels, but nothing is specified. Can you imagine meat being sold with no specification? Or milk? It is true that people can tell by the thickness of milk what percent they are drinking, but from what farm is this milk coming from, being pasteurized, or is it pasteurized? We could ask the same amount of questions, if not more for the rest of the items listed. When it comes to food it is important to know the process by which your food is being prepared and handled. Most importantly is to understand production. There are plenty of issues that surround food when it comes to public health. Epidemics have broke out, where without the understanding the processes of food, would make the handling of these disease outbreaks impossible to control. When it comes to food our health is at serious risks. We have to consider structure, food’s contents; the environment food is handled or kept in, and unpreventable outside components that sometimes get caught in food.
“Concurrently, estimates are that the consumption of contaminated food in the United States leads to each year to the illness of about 76 million people, of whom more than 325,000 are hospitalized and about 5,000 die.(Moeller, 129) There are a multiple amount of health problems that can derive from contaminated food. Contaminated can mean many things, sometimes it can be bacteria in the food due to insanitary environment. Viruses can get into the food from other people who are sick, people can also contaminate food by letting bodily fluids and hair particles get into the food. Sometimes people will consume food that is old and they will eat it mold and all. Sometimes in the process of making sure that foods are safe for sale for consumers to eat, within that process chemicals will get into the food such as lead or mercury. And of course, people tend to say too much of anything is bad for you.
There have been some popular outbreaks in the past years that always seem to rare their ugly heads every once in a while. Food borne diseases such as mad cow disease, salmonella poisoning, and biotech foods are the most commonly known. “Salmonella infections occur in an estimated 1.4 million people in the United States each year.” (Moeller, 133) Incubation period for salmonella is about a week if not shorter. People who get infected with salmonella experience diarrhea, back pain, and usually get high fever. The tricky thing about salmonella’s properties is that it can exist for a period of long period of time in places that most organisms cannot. It is commonly found in the intestines of animals such as dogs and can be in rodents. Chicken at times is a common source as well. For example, eggs can even be infected with salmonella because the chicken is infected first from the ovaries. There are a number of infectious diseases that can come from food and all are caused and come from different things. It is common to here that people who ate at the same restaurant will be diagnosed with salmonella in the same week. At times it is not only food borne diseases that come from food but bacteria that get into the food because of improper handling. This being said, when a restaurant worker sneezing your meal it can cause an alarming amount of sickness in the population that are eating at that restaurant or food place.
With children viruses can be prominent because they spend time in camps and other concentrated area, because they are still learning cleanliness they spread germs to each other easily. Also because the immune system of a child is still developing they tend viruses in their case can be more fatal. If high concentration can cause a for a concentrated area to easily be infected with viruses from food contamination than the not only children are affected. A population of people in general can experience viral infection if they are in an exclusive situation. For example if there are passengers on a plan who’s food is contaminated, like a salad or meat entrée, everyone on that plane could possibly get infected thus creating a population of maybe adults and children alike who experience food poisoning. People even think that eating at a restaurant is safe because in order for that restaurant to still be in business it would have to be in proper standing with the laws put in place by the health department.
When it comes to chemical illness, it is no wonder there is an expiration date on containers of food. Sometimes the chemicals used to create these containers get into canned foods, such as lead. Still that is not the only way that people become ill from food. They also can get ill from chemical occurrences in the environment. The like how mercury is converted into a salt but one that is harmful to humans, this is important when we think of the food that we get from these waters.
The new trend is to eat healthy in order to have a long life, diabetes free. Well, not only are organic foods expensive but sometimes pose a risk to human health. There sometimes preservatives or salts added to these foods to keeps them fresh as they are natural. For some time it has been discussed and debated upon what would come out of this fact that animals are given too many hormones. We want to have a large chicken because the more meat packages we can make form that chicken, hence the more money. But in the long run we do not think of the side effects that we will have to face when we eat that chicken with all its hormones. There are a number of ways that humans alter the goodness of food making food our worst enemy. It can be from the way we cook our food too much too little, to what we use to cook our foods with. Either way, with every decision that we make, it is a risk we take when we do not handle or understand how to protect ourselves in how we eat.
In light of the fact that we humans are placed in quite a dilemma, we realize that we have to eat if with it comes disease we will handle it. Because there are so many factors that can result in food contamination and cause illness in an environment, there have to be agencies put in place to regulate. For this reason there are many agencies put in place to regulate such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and another common one National Institute of Health (NIH). All of these agencies are responsible for regulating a different aspect of the food industry. (Moeller) Regulation of foods and food industries people can take the risk of eating from restaurants and purchasing foods from the market, still the risks we take can be the same ones that take us to our graves. The scary part is you never know, it is when we are infected with food poisoning that the other public health subjects come into play whether it is toxicology or air in the home community. Food doesn’t only affect are health but our environment.
References
Moeller, Dade. "Food." Environmental Health . 1992. Reprint. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2005. 129-157. Print.

Need Less Oxygen?

Each food reacts with the human body differently, but there is little knowledge of how individual nutrients effect our bodies. Even nutrients that are known about may have underlying causes or contribute to the body in a different aspect, potentially negatively. Nitrates are of one of the newest studies being conducted to further knowledge of nutrition.

On February 1^st, 2011 an article from Science Daily, researchers report another positive aspect that fruits and vegetables should be a large portion of the human diet. Nitrates found in fruits and vegetables, in particular spinach and red beets, have been found to decrease a healthy individual’s oxygen intake during exercise. Previously it had been reported that nitrates were harmful to the body. The article warns that researchers are not recommending taking nitrate dietary supplements, but rather more vegetables that contain nitrates.

Athletes in particular may be interested in nitrates with the positive effects. There should be a warning on changing an already effective diet drastically; there is so little information available about what a body needs. But people had been healthy and not overweight when they consumed more fruits and vegetables.

Posted by Reed Allen (1)

KEPLER-11

Evolution has always been a sore subject. It is a nuisance to those who do not favor evolution and, in turn, a massive gateway for those who indulge in this topic. As humans we have the natural fondness to uncovering mysteries; and why not the unknown is fascinating. Evolution is of utmost importance in the science field. The only question is where do we start; is it here on earth or is it in space. For many years it has been question is there life beyond our own and is that life or system structured the same way as ours. The Big Bang started the cascade of events that we now live today. Moreover, the point I'm trying to make is somewhere in the ever expanding void of space there maybe a similar system like ours. With that said i have stumbled upon an interesting article about a newly found solar system.

Kepler-11 is a telescope and spacecraft made by NASA. It was launched in March of 2010 with the sole purpose of finding planetary systems that circle a star much like ours. NASA has seen a various amount of interesting systems but none like the one that made these headlines. It is a system of six planets orbiting around a star much like ours. However, the only difference is these planets are tightly pack and are rather large. This has been deemed the most tightly packed planetary system where five out of the six orbit closer than mercury does in our solar system. New mysteries have unfolded, however, scientists can learn more about "space" from Kepler-11 than through traditional means.

The finding of Kepler-11 sparks a new stepping stone for researchers and scientists. They can now use this newly found information to better understand how planets are formed and evolve. One theory that has already developed from this is that gas giants form far from their parent star (where Jupiter and Saturn are) and eventually move in-ward. If scientist can figure out this phenomena of evolution what is to say they can't find or figure out how life can start on other planets. Furthermore, if this theory proves to be true what does it mean for our own planetary system.

Article can be found here

posted by Louis Dumas (1)

Orcas With a Whale of a Tooth Problem

[by Alexander Simolaris]

According to a report released in Nature last month, Orcas (Orcinus orca) of the Pacific U.S. have been actively predating on sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus). This development is contrary to the popular notion that Killer whales feed almost exclusively on marine mammals and large schools of small fish. However, the catch for the whales is severe damage—and often times complete destruction—of their teeth.

While interesting, the find is reminiscent of the discovery that some whale pods feed on sea-otters—a sign of desperation stemming from a crippling reduction in biomass. If the cost of predating sharks is equally high, then the results of the study suggest that the the whales' situation is more alarming than previously imagined—or is it?

Interestingly enough, seals pose a more direct risk to whales than sharks. Seals, among other prey, are more maneuverable and defensive during an attack; they are more likely to bite an oncoming whale than any other prey item. As counter-intuitive as this may be, sleeper-sharks—during the actual hunt, anyway—are rather innocuous targets. Incurring accelerated tooth decay may simply be a worth-while trade-off that has no significant, net effect on the whales' fitness.

Under this paradigm, there is an argument in the marine community to classify the shark-eating orcas, collectively known as “residents,” as a separate species from the “transients,” which predate almost exclusively marine mammals. These populations do not exchange vocalizations or genetic material despite being fully capable of doing so, indicating the potential development of incipient species. Should the designation be made official, conservation efforts in the region may be, at the very least, administratively affected by the change.

While these possibilities are both interesting and timely, the results of the study are difficult to interpret with any degree of certainty. Populations of pacific whales were discovered in the 70s, specific designations to residents and transients classified in the 80s while dietary habits have only been analyzed in the last decade. Despite years of work, scientists really know very little about the nuances of regional whale behavior. This problem, in addition to the notable absence of a second longitudinal study, forms only one line in a laundry list of variables that makes the data so difficult to interpret. As the pace of research is dictated by ever dwindling numbers of slowly reproducing whale pods, the important implications of the article's results may take decades before coming to fruition.

L-carnitine: The best supplement for weight loss?

Posted by Minhui Dai

Nowadays you can find lots commercials about weight loss anywhere. L-carnitine defeats other well-known supplements and is named as the fastest and safest way to lose weight. Firstly, L-carnitine transports long-chain acyl groups from fatty acids into the mitochondrial matrix, so they can be broken down through β-oxidation to acetyl-CoA to obtain usable energy via the citric acid cycle. That’s the way to metabolize fats and to prevent futile cycling between β-oxidation and fatty acid synthesis directly. Secondly, we can get L-carnitine from everyday food like red-meat, dairy and synthesized by our own healthy body. It is not a component that we made of but one that we original have. So L-carnitine is considered as the safest supplement.

In recent studies, L-carnitine is proved to have effect to protect the cell from oxidation damage which can be considered to use in antitumor medicine. Also L-carnitine treatment can reduce the neuronal loss and number of neuronal intranuclear aggregates. It is now used to prevent or treat Huntington’s disease.

More and more people get to know L-carnitine and are attracted by its intermediate effect in fatty biosynthesis and fat catabolism. But there is no evidence that carnitine supplements can improve weight loss performance in healthy individuals. Which I think does make sense. Here are some reasons I summarize from what I read and what I think.

The body can make enough carnitine to meet most people’s need. How many fats you burn considered the energy you use then how many carnitines will be produced. In recent animal experiments, it shows that L-carnitine consumption can influence the renal reabsorbtion of cartinition. Renal reabsorbtion is the way for kidney to retake useful components in initial urine. Some components’ reabsorbtion needs transporters, which can combine those components and be reclaimed by the body. L-carnitine is one of them. The number of its transporter called OCTN2 is limited. A study shows that treatment with L-carnitine affected neither the activity of carnitine transport into isolated renal brush border membrane vesicles, nor renal mRNA expression of the carnitine transporter OCTN2. In contrast, in carnitine deficient rats, carnitine transport into isolated brush border membrane vesicles was increased 1.9 fold compared to untreated control rats. So more extra carnitine you eat more you just urinate. And because of the decrease of transporters when you stop consuming this supplement the rate of fat catabolism will be lower than that before consumption. That’s why only carnitine deficient patients who suffer from peripheral vascular disease, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and kidney diseases and diabetes will take carnitine as medicine under doctor’s supervision.

On the other hand, some clinical cases show that carnitine supplements can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and a “fishy” body odor. And in some animal studies, carnitine persistently increases dopamine outflow in the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine dysregulation in this pathway has been shown to cause psychotic symptoms.

As the conclusion, in the theory, L-carnition is an efficient way to help lose weight. But it won’t and it causes some bad side effects. So do not believe those weight loss commercials. Eat healthier and exercise more!

CANCER TREATMENT DRUG TAXOL AND SPINAL CORD INJURIES

Unfortunately the human body is not always perfect and does not always work properly, and even sometimes generates forms of abnormal cells called cancer. Research on cancer has become one of the most interesting and mind bottling experiences in science. Taxol, generic name paclitaxel, is one of the drugs that were lab generated to treat various types of cancer such as, breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. But what if you could use one drug for two different causes?

Researchers claim that Taxol is able to reduce the deterioration of the cytoskeleton in injuries of the spinal chord. You see, when someone completely injures their spinal cord, the vertebrae is dislocated and/or damages that are made to pieces of the vertebrae will be misplaced in cord tissue and they will press down on nerves that carry signals which will result in the cord not being able to pass messages below the area of the injury and the person will end up paralyzed.

Through lab research on rats, scientists have come up with the idea that small amounts of Taxol can stabilize microtubules and also reduce the scar tissue formed so that neurons can pass through the injury area and make the connection necessary for complete healing. The drug has only been tested on recent injuries and researchers say that the next step could be testing the drug on older spinal cord injuries. Talk about a scientific advantage! Making two unfortunate scenarios into treatable, and potentially curable situations.

Article can be found here

Posted by Cleopatra Duque (1)

Gaia. By David Duong

James Lovelock came up with a hypothesis that he named Gaia, which means The Goddess of the Earth, in Greek. This hypothesis claims that the Earth evolves, making it more livable, by doing things like controlling the climate, the elements in the atmosphere, and even the salt concentrations in the ocean.
Climate control is very important in order for life on Earth to survive. As each day passes, the sun becomes more and more hot. Lovelock claims that the Earth balances out this heat by doing things like creating more greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane gas. Methane gas can be produced a number of ways, but a very efficient technique is found in termites. Termites can be found in over two thirds of the Earth's surface. Termites eat wood and convert it into the methane gas when it is digested. Termites are the second largest source for the production of methane gas.
Lovelock also claims that the Earth controls the amount of oxygen that is produced at 21 percent. This is crucial because have too much oxygen would mean that forest fires would burn for much longer than now. Having below fifteen percent would mean that fire couldn't be sustained.
Many people don't agree with Lovelock and his hypothesis, but I believe that more and more people are coming around to it.